YOUNGSTOWN — There’s a mantra Mackenzie Goranitis brings to her job every day: “a deaf person can do anything a hearing person can do … except hear.”

She is the deaf and hard of hearing support specialist at Easterseals of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties.

While the local Easterseals office serves three counties, the Eastereals Community Center for the Deaf extends to Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Nobel, Washington and Monroe counties.

The onset of her hearing issues, she said, was at “the age of 9 months when I developed a fever of 106.8 with an ear infection. That was when they discovered I had hearing loss.”

She attributed much of her adjustment to living with hearing loss to her parents’ support, “who were patient with me and accepted me for who I am.”

She began school at 2 years old to “get a head start in my education,” then attended Champion Local Schools and was “mainstreamed in regular classes with an interpreter.” Lip reading is something she learned as a child and still does today.

Now living in the Warren area, Goranitis, 28, always identified herself as hard of hearing until she attended Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where she became comfortable identifying as a Deaf individual. Gallaudet is the only liberal arts university in the world for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing.

One of the goals she’s worked toward is educating people in the importance of asking a hard of hearing person what they identify with as described below:

• A capital “D” in Deaf represents someone who is culturally involved in the Deaf community and primarily uses American Sign Language as their first language.

• A lowercase “d” in deaf means just a hearing loss, or not involved in the Deaf community. An example would be an older person who loses their hearing later in life and would probably identify as a lowercase “d.”

• Hard of hearing can be used for someone who has little to severe hearing loss and is more comfortable using this term rather than using one of the deaf identities.

Goranitis added that “hearing impairment is a term that we are trying not to use since it can be offensive to a person who has hearing loss as it implies that the person is impaired.”

Goranitis said her job is enhanced by her experience as a deaf person. She began teaching ASL at Easterseals on a per-diem basis and moved into part-time positions until she became the support specialist there.

She said during the COVID-19 pandemic it became apparent that the hard-of-hearing community was underserved. She credited Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities program with helping to move programs forward.

Clients can visit the Easterseals office in Youngstown to discuss services. If transportation is a problem, Goranitis will meet with prospective clients in their homes.

“It’s important to connect with people on the level they need,” she said.

She researches what programs are needed for that person.

People seeking deaf-related services do not have to be an existing client of Easterseals to benefit from the services.

Classes in ASL are taught by deaf individuals and “students are taught both expressive and receptive ASL skills that will help them communicate with deaf friends or family members.”

There is no fee for the ASL class for parents or family members of deaf children. Additionally, ASL classes can be taught for a fee to anyone who would like to learn.

Goranitis said communication is critical as the lack of communication can cause negative effects, isolation and sometimes depression. In the past, schools were sometimes not “sure how to deal with the problem.”

Parents also, she said, are often not sure how to deal with a deaf child. Often parents were told to take the child to a doctor only to be told to speak louder to the child or get them a cochlear implant.

Thankfully, Goranitis said, doctors, teachers and parents today are much more open to sharing resources and finding help for children with hearing issues.

Goranitis said her goals in her role as the deaf and hard of hearing support specialist include supporting the deaf community and educating people about programs available. Her primary goal, she said, “is making sure that people in my community understand how to provide accessibility for the deaf.”

Easterseals offers several programs in addition to ASL to help people who identify as being deaf. Case management services help with independent living training, leadership skills and an advocacy program to promote change for deaf individuals.

The Deaf Kids Enrichment Club offers children the opportunity to develop life skills, learn responsibility and form a network of friends like them.

Hospitals, doctors, police and other emergency personnel can get help when dealing with a deaf individual in an emergency by requesting an interpreter between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. by calling the Easterseals Community Center for the Deaf at 330-726-8391. After hours, the Help Network can be reached at 330-747-2696.

To inquire about all services, Goranitis encourages people to contact Easterseals at 330-743-1168.